Holocaust denial

<a href="/facts/Historical_negationism/mzGjPGH8">Denial</a> of <a href="/facts/The_Holocaust/vGQsAb2y">the Holocaust</a> is an <a href="/facts/Antisemitic_conspiracy_theory/QDx803dj">antisemitic conspiracy theory</a> that asserts that the <a href="/facts/Genocide/IjkNvg7y">genocide</a> of <a href="/facts/Jews/T9Y4wE6A">Jews</a> by the <a href="/facts/Nazi_Party/qQCramHd">Nazis</a> is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims:

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Nazi_Germany/8kRbqRpo">Nazi Germany</a>'s "<a href="/facts/Final_Solution/9epKHlVr">Final Solution</a>" was aimed only at <a href="/facts/Expulsions_and_exoduses_of_Jews/F18uRMjB">deporting Jews</a> from the territory of the Third Reich and did not include their extermination.</li>
<li>Nazi authorities did not use <a href="/facts/Extermination_camp/v9VjaFP8">extermination camps</a> and <a href="/facts/Gas_chamber/5lVDJXVy">gas chambers</a> for the <a href="/facts/Mass_murder/BoUmJhpA">mass murder</a> of Jews.</li>
<li>The actual number of Jews murdered is significantly lower than the accepted figure of approximately six million.</li>
<li>The Holocaust is a <a href="/facts/Hoax/AsSvg6Tp">hoax</a> perpetrated by the <a href="/facts/Allies_of_World_War_II/YzCdtjDY">Allies</a>, <a href="/facts/International_Jewish_conspiracy/zhb6sYIa">Jews</a>, or the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a>.</li></ul>
The methodologies of Holocaust deniers are based on a predetermined conclusion that ignores <a href="/facts/Evidence_and_documentation_for_the_Holocaust/WUzRHknR">overwhelming historical evidence to the contrary</a>. Scholars use the term <a href="/facts/Denialism/dJsC5km2">denial</a> to describe the views and methodology of Holocaust deniers in order to distinguish them from legitimate <a href="/facts/Historical_revisionists/208NF3ms">historical revisionists</a>, who challenge orthodox interpretations of history using established historical <a href="/facts/Methodology/dk5X9Hxx">methodologies</a>. Holocaust deniers generally do not accept denial as an appropriate description of their activities and use the euphemism <a href="/facts/Historical_negationism/mzGjPGH8">revisionism</a> instead. In some former <a href="/facts/Eastern_Bloc/12f32hA7">Eastern Bloc</a> countries, Holocaust deniers do not deny the mass murder of Jews but deny the participation of their own nationals in the Holocaust.
Holocaust denial has roots in postwar Europe, beginning with writers like <a href="/facts/Maurice_Bard%25C3%25A8che/dXzhgkDv">Maurice Bardèche</a> and <a href="/facts/Paul_Rassinier/9PXQfLDP">Paul Rassinier</a>. In the U.S., the <a href="/facts/Institute_for_Historical_Review/E1AbFtpn">Institute for Historical Review</a> (IHR) gave the movement a <a href="/facts/Pseudo-scholarship/NK46gUNw">pseudo-scholarly</a> platform and helped spread it globally. In the <a href="/facts/Islamic_world/n9vVGogr">Islamic world</a>, it has been long used to delegitimize <a href="/facts/Israel/dEe3IcaY">Israel</a> by framing the Holocaust as a fabricated justification for the creation of the Jewish state. The <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Islamic Republic of Iran</a> is the leading state sponsor, embedding denial into its ideological and foreign policy agenda through state-backed conferences and cartoon contests. Holocaust denial is considered a serious societal problem in many places where it occurs, and it is <a href="/facts/Laws_against_Holocaust_denial/hQ0JfFSf">illegal in Canada, Israel, and many European countries</a>, including Germany itself.

Holocaust denial open-in-new

Holocaust denial